Never Let Me Go
by Sweet Little Darling
Summary: AU. Post 5x10. Katherine Pierce was sure that Stefan Salvatore never stopped loving her. Stefan wasn't so sure. Unfortunately they don't have much time to discuss it, since Katherine somehow became pregnant by their one night stand and they are soon going to be the newest parents in Mystic Falls. Steferine.
1. Katherine and Stefan

Author's Note:

No older Nadia.

No aging, the only side effect of the cure is that Katherine can't drink vampire blood.

_Chapter One: Katherine and Stefan_

**Mystic Falls, 1864**

Katherine Pierce giggled as Stefan Salvatore kissed her neck, slowly moving up to her lips, his hands on her waist. She closed her eyes feeling the warmth of his kisses against her cold skin. This was one of the many reasons why Katherine always preferred Stefan over Damon.

He was a gentle lover which made him all the more passionate and irresistible. Damon was too eager and Katherine always liked to be the one in control of any situation, especially their sex life.

They were trying hard to keep quiet in order not to wake up the entire Salvatore household. Katherine guessed it was near dawn and she smirked knowing that she and Stefan had been together all night.

"I will love you forever." Stefan murmured as he rubbed an index finger across her cheek.

Katherine smiled and she whispered. "Forever is a very long time."

Stefan looked back at her, his eyes full of adoration. "Not long enough."

* * *

Stefan Salvatore looked across his shoulder, the sun was barely peeking through the curtains of his room. It was late, he guessed. Well, maybe not that late, but at least ten in the morning. He didn't usually get up so late. At least he didn't used too.

But that was before, when he used to have panic attacks about Silas every five seconds and now he was PTSD free.

But instead of enjoying his first night in relaxation, he felt worried. Though for Stefan that didn't seem to be new news. He was always worried it seemed.

Stefan looked across his shoulder, but saw no change, the former vampire doppelganger turned human lying on his bed was still completely asleep, cuddled under a heap of blankets. Her dark curls were all over the place and they adorned her heart shaped face.

She looked peaceful and innocent.

Innocent, that was hardly the word someone came up with when describing the elusive Katherine Pierce, but it seemed like a good word to use now. Ever since she had turned human after being force feed the cure by Elena Gilbert, she had changed in so many ways.

She was still sassy and bold and strong, but Stefan also got to see another side of her. Stefan could almost see that scared, vulnerable little girl that had turned into a vampire in 1492 to survive and had been running ever since.

Stefan had begun to understand Katherine better than anyone, surely better than Elena or Damon, who Katherine had caused the most damage too. He could almost sympathize with her, then why did Stefan feel so guilty for sleeping with her?

He tried to convince himself that he was grateful that she had helped him with his PTSD, that he had been caught up in the moment, that he liked pretty, delicate human things. But each excuse sounded lamer than the next.

Stefan looked over his shoulder again to stare at Katherine and then returned towards his diary entry, his pen floating just inches below the pages. _Perhaps I never stopped loving her._

-End of Chapter One-

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	2. The Morning After

_Chapter Two: The Morning After_

Katherine rolled to her side and stretched her arms and smiled privately to herself. She couldn't believe that she had slept with Stefan Salvatore. Stefan. Yay! Katherine didn't usually buy to the whole romantic crap, but last night had felt so right, so romantic.

Katherine sat up and covered her body with a robe. "Stefan?"

Stefan re-entered his bedroom and he seemed to avoid looking at her. "Hey."

Katherine smirked as she placed her arms wrapped around his shoulder. "Why did you leave so early? We could have cuddled." She felt Stefan stiffen. "What's wrong?"

"Katherine." Stefan said slowly. "I hope you don't think-last night, it didn't meant anything we were just caught up in the moment-you know I don't, I can't feel that way about you."

Katherine pulled away quickly, there was hurt and anger in her face. "Glad to know that I can always be a one night replacement for Elena."

Stefan sighed. "It's not that-"

"Then what is it, Stefan?" she snapped. "Or are you going to lie to me and say you wouldn't go running back to Elena the minute she snaps her fingers?"

Stefan looked annoyed. "Please, Katherine don't make this an ever bigger deal than it has to be. We both know you weren't looking for a relationship, you never are. So why don't we just leave it like that? We had a good time, we got caught in the moment, it happened-"

Katherine glared at him and if she were a vampire again she would throw him out the window, but she wasn't. Instead she took a deep breath and grabbed her clothes. She looked over her shoulder. "You know some people are really fooled if they think that you're the nice one."

* * *

Stefan's journals were organized in neat rows that reminded Katherine of a library. The Salvatore house was depressingly empty Jeremy and Bonnie were probably trying to work out their difficult anchor-former ghost relationship while Stefan and Damon were on their let's save Elena rescue mission and Katherine was alone. Typical.

Since Katherine didn't have money, a car, or any friends there weren't a lot of options to kill time. So she went back to the most recent one, obsessing over ways in how to become a vampire again. So far she hadn't gotten lucky.

Drinking vampire blood from the vein tasted like hot oil down her throat, so she had only one other option consult a witch, and the one who had more experience with witches or at least wrote everything down was Stefan.

Katherine grabbed a stack of diaries and placed them in the table across from her while she riffled through the pages. Curiously, she looked though the entries in where her name appeared. Aha, so Stefan was a liar, he had thought about her over the centuries.

_1864_

_Father has let a young lady, an orphan girl from Atlanta stay here. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, I know it's too early to say, but I think I love her._

_1890_

_I don't know if the gift of vampirism that Katherine gave me is a curse or a gift. I want to hate her for it, and I want to love her for it at the same time._

_1922_

_I thought I saw a glimpse of Katherine in Chicago, no matter how much I want to forget her, she is always here, in the present._

_2009_

_I meet a girl who looks exactly like Katherine, her name is Elena, but she's different than Katherine. She's warm and compassionate-_

Ew. Yuck. Disgusting. Katherine closed the book and threw it in the opposing chair in front of her. The last thing she wanted to do was be compared to Elena or read endless pages of Stefan's love for Elena.

Katherine would rather get eaten by a crocodile.

She closed her eyes, she needed to figure something out fast. She was running out of time.

* * *

Katherine had made her decision, she was going to leave. True, she had no idea where she was going, but she didn't care. She was obviously not welcome here and was not going to wait until they pulled out her body in a body bag. And besides any other place was better than living with baby brother Gilbert that she had formerly killed, her center of the whole world doppelganger, a brother who's obsession had turned to hate, and her former love who practically only looked at her as a fuck buddy and someone to pity. Or worst an Elena replacement.

Nope, it was time for Katherine to move on. She didn't know how, since she had exactly two dollars in her pocket, but she would figure it out. She always did. She packed what few clothes she had in a duffle bag and headed downstairs.

Katherine paused at the doorway, she looked over to the living room and saw Elena sitting in one of the couches, her face a puffy, crying mess as she crumbled pieces of paper from the journal before throwing them into the fireplace.

Katherine couldn't help but smirk, from what she had overheard Damon had dumped Elena and she couldn't help but feel an ounce of glee. After all the doppelganger had forced the cure down her throat, the least she deserved was to get her heart broken and smashed a couple of times.

Still, she could be less pathetic about it.

"Katherine?" Katherine frowned, Stefan was standing in the doorway, frowning and blocking her way. "Where are you going?"

Katherine clutched the side of her bag. "I'm leaving, I'm obviously not welcome here." She didn't meet Stefan's eyes.

"Katherine, about what I said-"

"No, its fine, Stefan." Katherine responded curtly. "If I were you, I'd go comfort my doppelganger right now, who knows maybe you will actually be happy to wake up next to her."

Stefan sighed. "Katherine-"

"No," she interrupted and she was surprised by how bitter she sounded. "I'm leaving and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Stefan didn't speak for a moment. "Do you need money?"

She shook her head, biting her tongue to not ask for a single penny. "Goodbye, Stefan."

-End of Chapter Two-

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	3. Home, Sweet Home

_Chapter Three: Home, Sweet Home_

"Matt! Matty Blue Blue! I'm hungry!" Katherine pouted as she closed the Donovan's refrigerator door with a thud. She was starving and the only thing that Matt had in his kitchen was a rotten banana, a cup of strawberry yogurt, and a bag of potato chips. Definitely not what Katherine had in mind.

After she had bravely left the Salvatore house and Stefan the heart crusher, she realize that she couldn't do anything about her current home situation since the only form of payment was a couple of dollars a handful of quarters and crushed mints at the bottom of her purse.

So she went to the only other person that she knew would have even slight pity towards her. Matt Donovan.

At first Matt had denied it, but Katherine had begged and pouted and practically threatened to make the bar at the Grill her new home from morning to night. Finally, Matt had agreed grudgingly that Katherine could stay as long as Katherine stayed inside and nobody found out that Matt was actually housing the devil herself.

Katherine had agreed, but after two weeks she was tired of being cooped up.

Matt looked up from his cell phone, visibly annoyed. He was on his way to work when Katherine started complaining. It seemed that Katherine complained about two main things her hair and food. "I haven't exactly gone grocery shopping, Katherine."

"That's ok," Katherine gave him an angelic smile. "You can just give the money to me."

Matt scoffed. "And come back home to a house full of beauty products? No, thanks. I don't trust you with my money. If you want crap so much, why don't you get a job and actually earn some money for a change."

Katherine wrinkled her nose. "Me, work? Yeah, not going to happen."

"Your funeral." Matt laughed darkly as he closed the door.

Katherine sighed as she ran a hand through her frizzy hair and opened the refrigerator door again, hoping it had changed into something more pleasant. But no such luck. Grudgingly, she grabbed the cup of strawberry yogurt and ate some of it darkly. It sucked to be human.

* * *

Damon entered the living room and saw Stefan looking out the window for like the fifth time that week. He rolled his eyes, Stefan was acting like a kid whose puppy had run away or something. Though Katherine was more like a cockroach.

"Will you stop?" he said exasperated. "Katherine is not coming back, believe me she's not worth another frown line."

Stefan sighed as he looked at his brother. "I just feel responsible somehow that she left . . . I said things to her that I shouldn't have said."

"Good for you, brother. Elena and I thank you." Damon said cheerfully.

"You seem particular happy for someone that just broke up with the love of his life." Stefan said, slight sarcasm oozing.

Damon shrugged. "I'm not going to be like you pining, with any luck Katherine got eaten by a bear or something."

"Damon," Stefan groaned slightly. "Katherine is human now, she's weak and vulnerable, and would it kill you to have even the slightest amount of pity for her?"

"Yes." Damon's mood darkened. "Bitch ruined our lives, believe me she deserves everything. Well, I'm going to go visit an old friend."

* * *

Dr. Maxfield heard a crack in the middle of his lab. He had been in the middle of studying the ripper virus, with his old test subject being Jesse, though he had been pleased by the results. That is, until he had been interrupted by an intruder.

"Well, Mr. Salvatore fancy seeing you here." He said. "I surely didn't expect to see you after you and Enzo took off."

"Well, let's just say I had some unfinished business." Damon cracked his knuckles as he pressed Dr. Maxfield against the wall. "Do you know what kind of hell the Augustine's put me through? What you did to Elena? Well, I'm going to make sure you regret it." He tightened his grip around his neck until Dr. Maxfield felt like he was losing consciousness.

Dr. Maxfield struggled to get inside his jacket pocket. He managed to pull out another ripper injection that he carried for protection, knowing that it wouldn't harm humans. He jabbed it inside Damon's torso.

Damon's muscles weakened as he let go of Dr. Maxfield. He saw the doctor smirking at him.

Damon felt himself slowly losing conciseness.

* * *

"Come on, Elena you need to eat something." Caroline said pushing a plate of French fries towards a depressed Elena. "You're going to die or something."

"Care, she's already dead." Bonnie pointed out to the blond. "What we mean is that all break ups are hard, you and Damon will find your way back to each other-"

"I seriously hope not." Caroline snorted.

Elena glared. "Thanks a lot, Care."

"Sorry," Caroline bit her lip. "But Damon is the worst thing that ever happened to you maybe you should think about going back to Stefan-"

"Morning, ladies why the long faces?" Matt greeted them as he poured them glasses of water.

Elena looked at the floor. "Damon and I broke up."

"You look tired," Bonnie noticed. "Is it been busy at the Grill?"

Matt shook his head. He would gladly work 24 hours shifts if that meant that he didn't have to go back and face a human Katherine. "Just an unwanted houseguest-"

"Houseguest?" Elena looked up confused. "Is Kelly back?"

Opps, the cat was out of the bag. He knew that Elena would be less than pleased that Matt let her archenemy live with him. "No, not Kelly . . . Katherine has been staying over."

"What?" Bonnie said.

"Seriously?" Caroline choked out.

Elena frowned and immediately got out of her chair.

"Wait, Elena where are you going?" Matt called out to her.

"To tell Katherine that she needs to leave." Elena said firmly. "After all the crap that she has put us through, she doesn't deserve an ounce of pity and you can't let her walk all over you like that Matt. I'm going to tell her that she needs to leave, get a job, and stop acting like she's still a vampire because she's human now and needs to act like it."

-End of Chapter Three-


	4. Matt's Roommate

_Chapter Four: Matt's Roommate_

Elena walked inside Matt's house, her blood boiling. If she couldn't be with Damon, the least that she could do was look out for her friends, since she created the mess in the first place by making Katherine human.

The older brunette glared at her. "Would it kill you to knock?"

Elena blinked. Katherine looked different and not in a good way. She was dressed in jeans and a faded black shirt. Her hair hung limp and colorless and even her face looked pale. She looked almost human.

Elena got over her surprise rather quickly. It didn't matter that her doppelganger was human. Katherine had ruined her life, her friends' lives, and she had tried to kill her. She didn't deserve pity.

"You need to leave." She ordered. "This is not your house."

A flash of insecurity passed through Katherine's face. "This is Matt's house, if Matt wants to kick me out fine. But you won't, Gilbert."

"Matt agrees with me," Elena said coolly. "You screwed up with everyone's lives, you shouldn't be surprise that no one want to give shelter to a self-centered, manipulative, and weak human."

Katherine flushed red with anger. "At least I'm not pathetic enough to blame all the bad things that have happened to me on other people, Elena. Because unlike you, Elena I actually own up to all the shit I've done and I have no one to do my dirty work nor do I let people die because of me. I certainly don't act like some innocent little fawn when you're as much as a bitch as I am."

Elena's features darkened. "Say all you want Katherine, lie if it make you feel better, but it doesn't change the facts. You're jealous that I have friends and people who love me, and that you will remain alone because you were too selfish to have even an ounce of compassion-"

That did it. Katherine grabbed the lamp sitting by the table and threw it towards Elena. Elena managed to move quickly and the lamp smashed against the wall. "Get out!"

* * *

"Stefan." Elena walked towards him as soon as Stefan came back. He had been at the Grill helping Caroline pick her classes for the following year, though Stefan felt that he wouldn't be much help in the subject since Caroline was a drama major.

Stefan would never admit it out loud, in order to spare Elena's feeling, but he didn't like the fact that she lived here. She especially didn't like the fact that he had to mentally prepare himself every time he saw Damon and Elena slobber all over each other.

"Elena." She looked upset. "What's wrong?"

"Katherine," Elena said the name with such bitterness as she ran a hand through her dark hair. "She took over Matt's house and she refuses to leave. Do you know what she did? She threw a lamp at me, a lamp. Thank god, I'm not human anymore otherwise even as a human she could kill me."

Stefan stifled a laugh. That was such a Katherine thing to do. Even as a human she was feisty.

"Stefan." Elena said annoyed. Even though they weren't dating she could read Stefan's expressions well.

"Wait, so Katherine has been staying at Matt's?" Stefan sounded almost relief, for days he had imagined the scenario of Katherine living in a cardboard box or something.

"Yes."

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"To kick her out. Drag her by her beautiful curls if you have too." Elena said sarcastically. "All I know is that I don't want my best friend to be forced to live with that backstabbing, selfish-"

"Does Matt mind?" he asked tiredly.

Elena flushed. "Matt's too nice to kick her out. She knows that I won't do anything to harm her but-"

"You think I should?" he raised an eyebrow. "Elena, Katherine is human and even though she did a lot of crappy things in the past does not mean that I'm going to kill her just because she's staying with Matt."

Elena scowled, looking very much like an angry bulldog.

"Fine." Stefan sighed. "I'll go talk to her."

* * *

Stefan hesitated before he knocked on Matt's door. What was he supposed to say, Katherine leave? Katherine probably had nowhere else to go and he doubted that Elena and Damon would welcome her with open arms.

When nobody answered Stefan pushed the door open and found Katherine sitting on the couch lazily eating her second cup of yogurt. She glared at Stefan. "Oh, you're here. I supposed you're acting on Queen Elena's orders, did she send you here to bully me and you followed her orders like a good little soldier?"

Stefan gave her a soft smile. "So of all the places to stay you choose here?"

Katherine snorted, but Stefan noticed that she was looking at her shoes nervously. "It's not like I have money."

"I offered you money."

"I'm not charity."

"It's not charity." Stefan tried to reason with her. "Katherine, why don't you let people help you? We'll find you a place to live, maybe you can even enroll in college-"

"No thanks." Katherine interrupted flatly. "Just because I'm human now doesn't mean I suddenly turned into Miss Optimist."

"Well, you can't live at Matt's for the rest of your life."

Katherine opened her mouth to protest, but her stomach suddenly gave a little jump and she felt something rise up in her throat. What the hell? She clutched her stomach and raced towards the bathroom and vomited everything that she had eaten today, mostly yogurt and an old bag of pretzels that she had found hidden in the cupboard.

Katherine felt like crying. She hated throwing up. She hated feeling weak and useless.

Stefan was slowly rubbing circles in her back and murmuring encouraging words. "Let it out."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" she whimpered pathetically. "I ruined your life and don't you dare say that you felt sorry for me."

"I wasn't going to." Stefan said as he helped her up and handed her a towel. "Katherine, are you sure you wouldn't rather go to the boarding house? At least there we have medicine, you know for Jeremy. We could figure something out for you."

Katherine didn't speak for a moment until she slowly nodded. "Ok."

* * *

_Ripper virus,_ that was what had been printed on the injection that, that asshole Dr. Maxfield had injected him with before he passed out. When he had woken up, he had been all alone with only the empty vaccine for company. Terrific.

Ripper? What did that even mean? Only one of the cases came to Damon's mind. Jesse. Caroline's former friend and the vampire who almost tried to suck him dry because he couldn't stop drinking vampire blood.

A horrible thought entered Damon's mind, did ripper mean that he was going to feed on vampires, mainly Elena and Stefan until they died?

Damon cursed under his breath. He couldn't. He wouldn't fall prey to such a petty lab experiment, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't hungry.

_You must not feed_, he scolded himself as he entered the boarding house.

Elena was the first to greet him as she wrapped her arms around him. "Damon, where have you been? I've been trying call you-"

Damon ignored Elena. Strangely, he couldn't concentrate on anything that Elena was saying. He was just staring at the vein that was popping against her delicate neck. It seemed that it was taunting him.

Damon felt his hunger growing. Don't feed on her, he reminded himself, she's your ex-girlfriend, you're a vampire, you don't drink vampire blood.

The front door clicked open and Katherine and Stefan came into the room. Stefan looked tired and Katherine looked pale and sickly.

Perfect.

In the blink of an eye before either Katherine or Stefan could say anything, Damon rush towards Katherine, who was supposed to be his human victim, and sunk his fangs into her fleshy neck.

Katherine let out a scream.

-End of Chapter Four-


	5. Fool Me Once

_Chapter Five: Fool Me Once_

"Ow! Ow!" Katherine yelped as she pulled away from Stefan who had been trying to straighten the bandages that Dr. Fell had placed around her neck. "Stefan, that hurts you know!"

Stefan gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry."

"Its fine," Katherine said trying to hide her embarrassment. She had once been forced to stand in the sun by Klaus, stabbed by both Stefan and Damon, along of 500 years of surviving and now she was yelling because of a bite mark. Pathetic, even for her. "It doesn't hurt that much honest."

That was a complete lie. She felt like someone had stabbed her neck with a pair of knitting needles. The ordeal of a few hours ago was still hasty in her mind, Damon had attacked her like a maniac, and Stefan had pulled him away and locked him in the cell, while Elena stared at her stupidly as if watching Katherine bleed to death was so interesting.

Since she couldn't drink vampire blood thanks to the stupid cure, Stefan had practically dragged her to the hospital. So they had been sitting in the emergency room for a little over an hour while Meredith bandaged her neck and ran some tests after Stefan's insistence to make sure that everything was all right.

"Can we go home now?" she whined. "I want to kick Damon's ass."

"We'll go home soon." Stefan assured her. "And don't push it."

"If I were still a vampire I would-"she sighed. "Never mind, it's too depressing to think about it."

Stefan handed her a small bottle of painkillers. "Here this will help you feel better."

"Thanks." Katherine said as she took out one little pill, desperately wishing that she could be in her own bed watching movies and cursing the universe. "And thank you . . . for saving me from your brother. You didn't have too, I'm sure everyone else would be glad to see me dead."

Stefan squeezed her hand reassuringly. "My pleasure." He immediately pulled away when Meredith came in. "So anything wrong in the test results?"

"Depends what you mean by wrong." Meredith said nervously.

Stefan and Katherine exchanged looks. "What does that supposed to mean?" she asked nervously.

Meredith looked from Katherine to Stefan. "Katherine, according to your test results, you're one month pregnant."

* * *

"Why are we the ones that have to do this again? We're human." Matt asked Jeremy. The two of them were standing in middle of the cell, located in the basement of the Salvatore house. After Stefan had chained Damon up and taken Katherine to the hospital since she wouldn't stop bleeding he had asked Matt and Jeremy to keep an eye on Damon. Though that might not have been the best idea.

"Because Damon only wants to feed on vampire blood, not human." Jeremy explained as he eyed the chained vampire. "So we're safe, for now at least."

"Are these chains really necessary?" Damon growled pulling the chains that Stefan had attached to his arms and legs. He felt like a caged puppy.

"Yeah," Jeremy's voice hardened. "I don't want you harming my sister."

"Have I actually harmed your sister?"

"No, but I'm not going to just stand there and let you harm her either."

"Damon," Elena peeked through the door, her face full of concern.

"Elena, get out of here," Matt ordered, much to Damon's annoyance. "It isn't safe for you here."

"I just want to talk to him." She looked at Damon pointedly. "In private. Can I?"

Damon softened. "Of course." He glared at Jeremy and Matt. "Leave. We'll be fine."

After the door closed and Elena and Damon were alone, Elena looked nervously at her ex-boyfriend. Elena wanted so desperately to kiss him, to reassure him that everything will be all right, but she couldn't because of two things. One, because of the ripper virus and two become they were broken up. "Thank you . . . for not attacking me."

"My pleasure." Damon said dryly. "Is Stefan still at the hospital with she-who-shall-not-be named."

Elena gave him a wry smile. "They should be back by now." She hesitated. "Damon, I saw your face before, you were craving my blood, why didn't you feed from me, why did you feed from Katherine instead?"

A shadow passed through Damon's face. "Easy, Elena I broke up with you because I don't want you to end up a terrible person like me. But that doesn't mean that I will ever stop loving you." Damon said. "No matter how strong the virus is I will never dream of attacking you." Elena smiled. "Katherine on the other hand, I thought I would finally end her, ironic way to die right? Drained of blood, just like when she killed Jeremy. Too bad, Stefan saved her."

"Too bad." Elena lowered her voice. "I love you, Damon."

* * *

"I can't be pregnant!" Katherine shrieked so loudly that Stefan wouldn't be surprised if half of the hospital heard. "I just can't unless the cure made some sort of magical miracle baby after Silas sucked the cure out of me."

"Katherine, calm down!" Stefan tried to calm down a hysterical Katherine, but was obviously not doing a very good job since Katherine looked like she wanted to punch him. "Meredith confirmed that you're one month pregnant, who have you slept with in the past month? Who do you think is the baby's father?"

"You, you idiot!" she snapped as if it should have been obvious. "You're the only one I have slept with in the past month and no I'm not making it up." She covered her face in her hands. "This is a disaster."

"I couldn't have gotten you pregnant." Stefan pointed out more calmly that he actually felt. "I'm dead."

"I know." She responded miserably. "But I swear on my own life that you're the only one I've slept with since I turned human. Believe me, not a lot of people find the homeless look sexy."

Stefan's mind trailed off to one name. Tessa.

"_You gave me my memory back?" Stefan asked Tessa while still sitting on the floor. Everything in the past 163 years of his life seemed to have been crammed into his head. Katherine, Damon, Elena, Lexi, all of the murders that he had committed. Every horrible guilty feeling that he had ever felt._

"_It was the least I could do." Tessa said in fake sweetness. "After you betrayed me, it was such a shame Stefan we were having such a nice time, but I should have known. It will always be Elena. Consider this my gift-your memories along with something else as my gift finally freeing you from the doppelganger curse."_

"Earth to Stefan!" Katherine interrupted him. "We're in the middle of a crisis!"

"Tessa."

"What about Tessa?"

"When she gave me my memories back, she also said that she gave me another gift. I didn't know what she meant at the time, but," his eyes traveled to her belly. "What if she meant that she made it possible for me to conceive again?"

-End of Chapter Five-

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	6. Secrets

_Chapter Six: Secrets_

"We can't tell anyone," Stefan said as he and Katherine left the hospital half an hour later. His thoughts were all over the place. He was going to be a father. He didn't think that after 163 years of being stuck as a teenager he was going to be an actual father. Or that Katherine would be the mother of his child.

He had a hard time imagining Katherine as motherly.

"Tell me about it." Katherine's legs felt weak, but she didn't know if it was because Damon had drank her blood or because Meredith had just told her that she was going to have a baby. "So are you sure Tessa was the one that got us into this mess? I never did like that suicidal bitch."

"I'm almost positive." Stefan said as they paused in front of his car. "Just the way that she said those words made me think that she had something to do with it?"

Katherine saw the stress lines forming around Stefan's forehead. It seemed that he had a harder time dealing with this than she did. Katherine didn't really want to go back to the Salvatore house, sure they could keep the baby hidden for now, but what about the next few months were Katherine started showing? They couldn't keep it a secret forever.

"Look, Stefan I know this whole baby thing caught us by surprise but-"she trailed off. "Look, just give me some money and I'll be fine. I can handle this on my own, I have handled worse."

Stefan looked confused.

Katherine elaborated. "Because I'm sure compassionate Elena, your jerk of a brother, and all your little friends aren't going to be too thrilled that you're about to have a baby with the psychotic bitch that ruined their lives."

Katherine hated the way that her voice broke. She sounded vulnerable and pathetic.

Stefan pressed a hand to her cheek. "I'm not letting you deal with this on your own," he said firmly. "We're in this together, Katherine for better or for worse. Now, come on let's go home."

* * *

"Stefan." Bonnie opened the door of her family home, where she now lived alone since her father was dead and her mother was nowhere to be found. "What are you doing here so late?"

"I'm sorry to bother you," Stefan said trying to come up with a decent explanation and not mention the baby at all. "I was just wondering since you're the anchor can you contact ghosts willingly?"

She nodded. "It doesn't always work. But I can try. Do you want to talk to Lexi?"

"No, not Lexi." Stefan said as he stepped inside. "Tessa."

Bonnie looked confused.

"It's a long story," Stefan sighed. "A very long and complicated story."

* * *

Katherine didn't completely trust Meredith, sure she used vampire blood to heal people, but what did she really know about a vampire turned human. Nothing. So after Stefan had dropped her off, she had taken Damon's car (it wasn't like he was going to use it) and drove to the nearest pharmacy in big sunglasses and a baseball cap, because no way that saintly Elena Gilbert would get pregnant before marriage-and she had bought six pregnancy tests.

Now half an hour later she was sitting in the floor of the guest bedroom staring at the half dozen pregnancy tests, all with a pink positive sign that indicated that she was carrying Stefan's child thanks to some weird magic that Tessa had created.

Katherine felt her insides quiver as she wrapped her hands around her body. She was going to be a mother. She had never thought that after 500 years she was going to be given a chance to be a mother again. It didn't make her happy, it made her terrified.

She heard a knock on the door and Katherine scrambled to get the pregnancy tests from the floor, but Elena came in before Katherine had safely hidden them all. "What are you doing?" Elena blurted out as she saw the pink pregnancy sticks. "Are you pregnant?"

"Of course not," she snapped. "These came from a joke shop, obviously little Gilbert planted this on me."

Elena didn't look convince.

"Get out!" she hissed. "Don't you have you murderer's ex-boyfriend to attend to?"

"I came to apologize," Elena folded her arms across her chest. "But I don't think I'm going to now, especially since apparently you're going to be living here now."

"Wow, I'm hurt." Katherine said sarcastically, feeling the fear leaving her. "Don't let the door hit you on your way out."

Elena looked at the pregnancy sticks once again before she slowly left the room and closed the door leaving Katherine alone.

-End of Chapter Six-


	7. Salvatore Baby

_Chapter Seven: Salvatore Baby_

"You have to be kidding me, Katherine Fucking Pierce?" Damon's blue eyes widened in shock, the shackles that were keeping him from feeding on his ex-girlfriend that was standing only a few feet away kept rattling. "Katherine is pregnant? How? Tell me everything."

Elena squirmed uncomfortably trying to remember every detail, how Katherine had tried to hide the many pregnancy tests, how she had angrily shooed Elena away, and each move more suspicious than the last.

"I went to her room, since I guess she's going to live here now, though I rather have her live here than at Matt's," she trailed off. "But when I went into the guest room there were a few of the pregnancy tests lying around." The pink pluses on the pregnancy sticks were fresh on Elena's mind.

Elena had kind of forgotten that since Katherine was human now she could actually bear children. Elena couldn't help, but feel an ounce of jealousy towards her doppelganger, Elena had always dreamed of being a mother and now her doppelganger, who didn't even deserve to be a mother was going to have a baby.

"But you're positive that she's knocked up?" Damon said a little too gleefully.

Elena nodded and then felt a small amount of pity. "Do you think she was . . . forced?"

Damon shook his head. "No."

"How can you be so sure?" Elena asked perplexed.

"Because Katherine has been in our care you could say for months. And like it or not, one of us has been keeping tabs on her." Damon shrugged. "Knowing Katherine she probably traded one of her famous sexual favors for something and now it has come to bite her back in the ass."

* * *

Stefan was staring at Bonnie, just because Bonnie could see ghosts and translate for them, didn't make the situation any less awkward.

"What do you want?" a voice suddenly said in her ear. "Bored already?"

Bonnie turned around and faced the irritable witch in front of her. "Tessa." The bitterness was still clear in her voice, it was evident that she was still bitter about the fact that Tessa forgot to mention about the side effect of the anchor.

Tessa looked up and smiled when she saw Stefan. "As much as I despised him, he really is cute, plus he did kill Silas for me, so I do owe him one."

"What is she saying?" Stefan asked.

"Stupid stuff." Bonnie said. "Now what do you want to ask her?"

Stefan took a deep breath. "This has to stay between us, Bonnie all right? At least for now."

Bonnie nodded.

"Tessa." Stefan said awkwardly not knowing where to face. "When you gave me my memories back did you make me fertile?"

Bonnie gaped. "Wait, what?"

Tessa's lips pulled into a smirk. "So it finally happened, took you a while to get laid. Now who's the lucky girl that came in between destiny?"

"She's asking who did you get pregnant." Bonnie asked.

Stefan simply said. "Katherine."

"Katherine?!"

Tessa simply let out a disgusting sigh. "Damn universe, what a waste." She faced Stefan even though he couldn't hear her. "The deal was for you to impregnate another human and screw the doppelganger prophecy, it was definably not to impregnate the human doppelganger of Amara!"

* * *

"So it's true?" Katherine demanded as soon as Stefan was back at the boardinghouse. "Tessa did some creepy spell so that you could get me pregnant?"

"She was actually hoping I would get somebody else pregnant. But it confirmed that the baby is mine."

Katherine scoffed as she turned around. "Don't sound so happy."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I didn't mean it like that . . . but I think it's time that we told everyone."

Much to his surprise, Katherine didn't argue. The image of Elena walking in on her and seeing the half dozen pregnancy tests on the floor was still clear in her mind. She had probably blabbered to everyone already. "Yeah, it's probably the best idea."

* * *

Katherine was squirming uncomfortably in the Salvatore's living room, though with only one Salvatore at her side, Stefan (Damon was still locked up) however she was surrounded by a lot of usual, not to mention unwanted guests.

The first which was Bonnie who Katherine guessed already knew about her unwanted pregnancy because she had kept staring at her stomach ever since she had sat down. Jeremy who kept playing on his phone. Matt who looked like he had just arrived from the Grill. Perky, clueless Caroline, and Elena who had been staring at Katherine until Katherine's glare finally shooed her away.

Katherine felt her stomach churn. She really didn't want to let anyone know that she was expecting Stefan Salvatore's baby, especially to a group of people who she was sure utterly despised her, but Stefan had insisted and knowing Stefan was going to do it anyway, she thought that she might as well be present.

Stefan cleared his throat as he put a reassuring hand on Katherine's shoulder, five pair of eyes stared at him. "Guys, I-Katherine and I have an announcement to make."

He eyed Katherine hoping that she would continue, but Katherine just stared stubbornly at the floor. There was no way that she would be the one to give the joyous news to everyone.

There was an awkward silence.

Caroline finally blurted out. "Hello, what are you guys going to tell us?"

Katherine bit her lip nervously, she couldn't believe that she was actually nervous and scared about what their reaction was going to be. The old Katherine Pierce would have never sunk so low.

Katherine's brown eyes meet Stefan's green ones and she slowly nodded. Stefan faced the group. "Katherine is pregnant." He said simply. "With my baby."

-End of Chapter Seven-


	8. News

_Chapter Eight: News_

The shock was evident in everyone's faces, even Bonnie who already knew still looked surprise.

"What?" Elena shrieked, her facial features turning into a mix of disgust and shock as she stared at Katherine's belly that was still flat. It was one thing for Katherine to be pregnant, it was another thing to blame Stefan and accused him of being the father. A stupid plan, in Elena's opinion since vampires couldn't have children.

"Seriously?" Caroline gulped.

"Whoa." Matt simply said. He couldn't believe that Stefan had knocked up Katherine Pierce that was a hard thing to picture.

Jeremy gaped. "How-what-"

Bonnie put a reassuring hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "I'll explain later," Bonnie whispered in his ear.

"It's true." Katherine forced a smile as she looked at the group. Sure she wasn't friend material enough to join their little group, but at least she didn't need to worry about them attacking her while she was pregnant. "I'm pregnant with Stefan's bundle of joy."

Elena switched her expressions from the happy "couple" to her group of friends, they were shocked that was true, but none of them were questioning what was obvious. Vampires couldn't have children.

"You're lying!" Elena shot up and looked at her doppelganger, fury evident in both her tone and eyes. First Matt, now sweet, innocent Stefan that was probably willing to help Katherine raise the baby because he felt sorry for her.

"Excuse me?" Katherine scowled her blood boiling. "What did you say?"

"You heard me." Elena's lip curled in disgust. "You're lying, you always lie, Katherine, even as a human. You're not carrying Stefan's baby, someone probably impregnated you while you were sleeping with someone to get ahead like you always do. And now you're trying to pass the baby as Stefan's." she turned towards Stefan who was staring at her in a mix of horror and shock. "Stefan, don't let Katherine manipulate you like that-"

Something inside Katherine snapped and suddenly she hated Elena more than anything. Who was she to throw these accusations around? Elena had been the one to shove the cure down her throat, Elena had just stood there and watched Damon feed her to Silas, Elena had let Damon feed on her, Elena made her a weak human. And what had Katherine done to harm Elena's perfect life, nothing. Well, except throw a lamp at her stupid Damon loving head.

It occurred to Katherine that she had been bottling her anger for Elena and maybe Damon for months, never letting them out and when Elena had accused Katherine of being a manipulative liar and trying to convince Stefan with her doe eyes, she had finally snapped.

"Elena!" Caroline whispered under her breath. "Don't." For some reason she doubted that Stefan and Katherine were lying. They looked pretty serious and there must be some supernatural reason why he had impregnated Katherine.

"No, Care. Stefan doesn't deserve being hurt by Katherine again-"

"That's it!" Katherine growled as she lunged towards Elena, knocking her against the coffee table.

Elena shrieked in surprise, but to her credit didn't use her vampire speed and strength to push Katherine off, instead she merely slapped her across the face with Katherine tugged on her hair, pulling her hair as hard as she could.

"Hey, break it up!" Matt hollered as he dragged Elena from under Katherine while Stefan grabbed Katherine firmly by the waist and pulled her up from Elena.

"Katherine, you're pregnant!"

"I don't care!" she shrieked, angry tears seemed to want to spill from her eyes. She hated the fact that everyone always treated her like the bad guy, even as a human she couldn't catch a break.

She focused her eyes on Elena, Stefan was still gripping her from the waist, probably trying to prevent Katherine from pouncing on her. "Tessa did some sort of spell, you idiot." She hissed. "It's not like Stefan and I are in this by choice!"

* * *

"Ow." Katherine winced as Stefan rubbed rubbing alcohol against her bruised cheek and put a small band air over it. "That hurt."

"You deserved it." Stefan grumbled under his breath.

Katherine pouted. "Don't be mean."

"Don't pout." Stefan chided as he put the first aid kit away. "Katherine, try to remember that you're carrying a baby, it isn't wise to err, get into cat fights."

Katherine stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. "She deserved it."

Stefan gave his famous end-of-the world sigh.

Katherine faced Stefan, her bottom lip trembling and she felt like she was going to cry. Damn these pregnancy hormones. "Stefan I'm not lying, I swear. The baby that I'm carrying is your baby."

Stefan gave her a gentle smile as he squeezed her hand. "I know. Don't worry."

* * *

Damon looked up when he heard his cell door open, he gave a crooked smiled when he saw Elena. "Hey, you." His smile instantly faded. "Whoa, you look pissed. What happened?"

"Katherine and Tessa." Elena crossed her arms over her chest. "And I hate to say it even Stefan."

"Whoa Stefan, got on the naughty list what did he do?"

Elena sighed. "Remember when I told you that Katherine was pregnant, but we didn't know who the father was?"

"A glorious moment, continue."

"Well, guess who the father is?"

Damon's blue eyes widened. "No, no it can't be, Elena-"

Elena nodded her head in utter discouragement. "Tessa is still screwing with us even in death, when she gave him back his memories she also made Stefan able to have children, add a human Katherine-"

"And you have a major disaster."

-End of Chapter Eight-


	9. Jealousy

_Chapter Nine: Jealousy_

"-I mean of all the girls that Stefan could have slept with, let alone impregnate did it have to be Katherine?" Elena spat as she and Caroline walked through the hallways at Whitmore College. It was a beautiful, sunny day they type of day that Elena usually enjoyed, but now it just depressed her.

It had been two weeks ever since Katherine and Stefan had given them the news about the baby and let's just say that Elena still hadn't gotten over the news and the feelings of betrayal. At some point in her life, before she had started to date Damon she had liked to fantasize about the type of future that she and Stefan could have, had if he wasn't a vampire. Somehow in Elena's mind the picture always included her, Stefan, and two children.

"I mean, Katherine tried to kill me hundreds of times and has impersonated me, she even killed Jeremy and Stefan still slept with her without consideration-"

"Elena," Caroline said dryly. "Can we please talk about something else?"

Elena looked puzzled.

The blond shook her head. "I mean you've been obsessing over the baby news ever since Katherine and Stefan announced it and no offense, but me and Bonnie are sick of hearing about it. Yes, it's a shock that Stefan impregnated Katherine, but it's their own lives. Besides you and Stefan broke up, he doesn't owe you anything. I mean you're stressing about a little thing-"

"Caroline, a baby isn't a little thing!"

Caroline sighed and hesitated before saying. "Are you jealous? Because it's seems like you are."

"Jealous?" Elena looked taken back. "Of who? Katherine? Please, Caroline."

"Well, it sounds like you are." Caroline crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "Face it, Elena you're jealous and no one would blame you if you were, but let's face it Katherine is living the life you always wanted. She's human and she's having a baby and you always wanted to be a mother, Elena."

Elena's jaw tightened and she avoided Caroline's knowing glance. "Yes, I've always wanted to be a mother, but I'm not jealous of Katherine."

* * *

"Well, baby bro you messed up, big time." Damon glanced back at Stefan who was standing at the edge of the doorway looking at Damon with slight pity and annoyance. Damon's temper was running short, he had been stuck in the Salvatore cellar for weeks and Stefan had been too busy fawning over Katherine that he hadn't even tried searching for a cure. "I mean a baby? Couldn't you guys get a couple of cats or something?"

"Very funny, Damon." Stefan said dryly. "I assume Elena told you the news, including that the only way that I managed to get Katherine pregnant was because of Tessa's spell."

Damon shrugged. "She mentioned something." He looked at his brother. "Come on Stefan, I know you. You're not stupid enough to fall for this, do you honestly think that Katherine is pregnant with your baby? The girl lies more than she breaths-"

"I spoke to Tessa myself Damon and she confirmed it," Stefan said finally losing his patience. He got it that Damon was upset, but couldn't his brother at least pretend to be happy for him? "And I would appreciate it if you and everyone else started backing off Katherine and giving her a break, this isn't easy for her either."

"What are you now?" he asked sarcastically. "Her white knight in shining armor."

"Someone has to be," Stefan paused at the edge of the doorway. "After 500 years of fighting her own battles, I'd say she earned it."

* * *

Ever since Katherine receive the news that she was expecting the Salvatore baby and Stefan had dragged her away from Matt's house, she had practically moved in Stefan's bedroom. She had her own room of course in the tiniest guest bedroom, but more often than not she found herself sleeping in Stefan's room.

At first she had thought that Stefan would object, but so far he hadn't said anything. Besides they didn't have sex, they just slept in the same bed. Katherine wasn't even sure what they were now-friends, enemies, parents to be?

And she knew that Stefan wasn't on good terms with his friends because of her so Katherine decided not to push it.

Katherine curled up into a little ball, clutching her blanket. She peeked through one eye open and saw that Stefan was still deeply asleep. She couldn't help but smile. Stefan looked adorable when he slept, that was one of the things she loved most about it.

Katherine had barely admire the sight when she felt something rise up in her throat. Oh no, not again. She hastily pulled back the covers and ran to Stefan's adjoin bathroom as she did what she seemed to do every morning even before breakfast, throw up.

She was going to murder whoever came up with morning sickness.

Katherine was just finishing throwing up when she felt someone rubbing her lower back sympathetically. "Let it out."

"I hate morning sickness." Katherine huffed. "When is it going to stop?"

"You just entered your second month of pregnancy, Katherine." Katherine could hear the amusement in Stefan's voice. "You're going to go through this for at least the first trimester."

Katherine sunk to her knees. "Great."

Stefan pushed back a stray curl. "Do you want me to get you something? Dry toast should help your stomach."

Katherine slowly nodded.

* * *

Katherine heard the doorbell rang a few hours later and half confused she went to answer it. "I'll get it." She said sarcastically at Jeremy who had been playing video games and hadn't even bothered to look up.

She opened the door and saw a handsome, dark hair guy at the doorway. "Hello?"

"Hello, gorgeous." Enzo smirked. "You must be the famous, Elena. Damon talked about you a lot."

Katherine wrinkled her nose. "Nice try, I'm Katherine. Elena is my doppelganger."

Enzo looked surprised. "So you're the famous Katherine that stole Damon's heart before crushing it into pieces."

"That's me." She chirped. "What do you want?"

"I'm Enzo, Damon's friend," he pulled out a small viral of red liquid. "And I have the cure to the ripper virus."

Katherine paused, looking interested. She tried to grab it, but Enzo pulled it away. "Are you Damon?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Come on in."

Jeremy finally looked up from his video games. "Who is-"

"Damon's savior apparently," Katherine said sarcastically. "Stay around for the show, little Gilbert."

Jeremy gaped as he turned off his video games and followed Katherine and Enzo. They ran into Stefan on their way down to Damon's. He frowned. "Enzo?"

"Hello, mate." Enzo said with his usual charm. "Nice to see you again. I need to talk to Damon."

"Yeah, well Damon is not accepting any visitors at the moment." Stefan said coolly.

"Stefan," Katherine interrupted. "He has a cure to save Damon from the ripper virus."

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

Enzo nodded as he raised his flask. "And no offense, but I rather give it to him personally. I have a lot of questions for him."

-End of Chapter Nine-


	10. The Cure

_Chapter Ten: The Cure_

"Enzo, I think I love you."

"I'm afraid I don't feel the same way about you mate." Enzo joked, though he saw the way that Damon's blue eyes stared hungrily at the cure for his end of vampire hunger in his hands. Stefan and Katherine were standing a few feet away from Enzo hearing everything.

Katherine fought the urge to roll her eyes as she watched Stefan stared suspiciously at Enzo as if wondering if he would hurt his brother. Apparently Stefan was ignorant to the fact that Damon practically drowned baby kittens for fun.

"How did you even get it?" Damon asked.

"Well, let's just say Dr. Maxfield owed me a favor or two." Enzo chuckled. "After I safely deposited his body in the Atlantic Ocean for a nice, long nap I went back to the lab and found this on the top shelf."

"Excellent." Damon thrust his hand towards him. "Give it to me."

Enzo pulled back rapidly. "Not so fast mate, I want a few answers first."

Damon looked annoyed, but was willing to comply. "All right. What do you want to know?"

Enzo didn't speak for a moment. "You got out of the Augustine's faster than me, you could say." He mused. "Did you meet Maggie? Do you know what happened to her? Is she still alive?"

Stefan saw a rare flash of guilt flashed in his brother's eyes. Oh, no this was bad. "Enzo-"

"Stefan." Damon interrupted, knowing very well what his brother was going to do and he honestly didn't want to drag Stefan into this mess, especially since he was going to be a daddy to be. "Don't." He looked back at Enzo. "In the 1960's, I found Maggie in New York, she tried to attack me and I killed her . . . I didn't know she was your Maggie until only a few days ago, I'm-"

Damon's rare apology was cut short when Enzo pinned him against the wall, Damon's shackles prevented him from defending himself. Damon's eyes bulge and he gave a choking sound as he struggled to breathe. "You what?" he hissed.

"I killed her!"

"Get your hands off him." Stefan snarled as he pulled Enzo away from Damon and smashed Enzo into the wall. Enzo out of fury kicked him to the ground.

Katherine noticed that while the boys had been too busy fighting each to notice her, Enzo had dropped the cure on the floor. Perfect.

Katherine wasn't feeling too sympathetic towards Damon at the moment, but she also didn't want her least favorite Salvatore living under the living room forever. As quick as her human speed would allow her, Katherine grabbed the tiny flask and hurried out of the basement.

"Katherine!" she heard Stefan snapped, but Katherine ignored him as she went upstairs. She hastily opened one of the cabinets and pulled out a vervain grenade.

She flinched when Enzo appeared in front of her. He looked at her strangely and opened his hand. "Hand over the cure, doll and no one gets hurt."

"No one other than you." Katherine threw the vervain grenade towards Enzo's face. Enzo let out a scream of pain. Before Katherine could run much further, Enzo grabbed her shoulder and threw her against the wall.

Katherine grunted as she felt her shoulder hit the floor, she raised her gaze and saw that Enzo was about to pounced on her when he started coughing up blood. His body fell on the floor and Stefan stood behind him holding his heart.

He rushed towards Katherine and helped her. "Are you ok?" he asked anxiously eyeing her stomach. "Don't even do that again, Katherine!"

"Don't scold me." Katherine shot back as she handed him the cure. "Especially since I just save your brother's life again."

* * *

"Katherine?"

Katherine fought the urge to groan as she turned around, her hand still half holding the ice pack to the side of her forehead. Because Enzo had thrown her against the wall, a small bump had formed on her forehead, and since Katherine couldn't cure it with vampire blood, ice was the next best thing.

Stefan was off tending to his brother, but that did not mean that Katherine wanted to talk to her "sister" in law.

Elena was standing by the doorway, looking like she didn't want to be here either. "Yes?"

"Thank you." She finally blurted out after a while. "For getting the cure . . . for trying to get it away from Enzo."

"I didn't do it for you." Katherine snapped back nastily.

Elena opened her mouth, but then shook her head. "Never mind, sometimes there is just no use talking to you. You're never going to change. Why can't you just accept my thanks?"

"Because I didn't do it so that Damon and you can live happily ever after," Katherine said. "I did it so that Stefan didn't lose his brother."

* * *

"Did it work?" Stefan raised an eyebrow, he had cut his wrist and blood was pouring on the ground. He looked at his brother hopefully, usually when Stefan did this Damon's eyes would grow red and the veins around his eyes would appeared more prominent, but now he was simply staring back at him. "How do you feel?"

"I feel fine, I feel normal." He said as he sniffed the blood. "Positively disgusting again, I'm cured. I no longer want to drain your artery."

Stefan smiled, relieved. "Good." He started unbuckling the shackles. "I'm glad something good came out of the reunion with your little friend."

"So Enzo is dead?" he asked wearily.

Stefan nodded. "Come on, Damon I didn't have a choice. The guy was a complete lunatic-he almost killed Katherine-"

"I'm not blaming you," Damon's jaw tightened. "I'll leave you two alone, I won't give Katherine a hard time anymore, you know as a thanks."

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Elena asked as she and Damon sat in the Salvatore living room. It felt weird seeing Damon against almost normal, Elena wanted to kiss him out of complete happiness that he was cured, but she was sure that was not something she did to ex-boyfriends.

"Fine." Damon absentmildly wrapped an arm around Elena's shoulder. "Better than ever actually."

Elena smiled. "Good." She paused for a bit. "I hate to admit it, but Caroline was right. I was jealous of Katherine, well of Katherine's baby. But she didn't have to help you today, but she did."

"Please." Damon gave a tiny eye roll. "She did it for Stefan."

"True." Elena admitted as she looked into the fire. "I guess she must really love him."

* * *

"Here," Caroline said as soon as Stefan opened the door. She pressed a small first aid kit in his hands. "It's my mom's."

"Thanks, Caroline." He said as he took the first aid kit. "Besides Jeremy, Katherine is the only human and we kind of need to stock up on things like these."

"No problem." She said chirpily. "And Stefan I know I didn't tell you before, but I'm happy for you, you're going to be a great father and Katherine has her . . . well, charms."

-End of Chapter Ten-

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	11. Kiss the Girl

_Chapter Eleven: Kiss the Girl_

Katherine frowned as she cocked her head to the side, she moved sideways so that her slight belly could be seen through the mirror in Stefan's bedroom. She knew she had just entered her third month of pregnancy, but was she honestly that fat already?

Damon and Elena had been true to their world and they had barely acknowledge Katherine for the last few weeks, though the doppelganger did feel lonelier now that she had no one to fight with. And to waste time she started obsessing over her non existing baby weight.

"What are you doing?" Katherine turned around and saw Stefan looking at her, his arms were folded across his chest. There was an amused smile playing on his face.

"I'm getting fat." She moodily crossed her arms over her chest. "Thanks to you."

Stefan raised an eyebrow and saw the little bump that was barely forming on Katherine's stomach. Their baby was nestled there. "You're not fat, Katherine and what did you expect that you were going to be a perfect size 0 while you were pregnant?"

Katherine scowled at him. "Of course not, but look." She grabbed Stefan's hand and put in on her non existing belly. "See."

"You're not fat, Katherine." Stefan said gently, but he still saw traces of self-doubt on her face. Stefan's eyes went towards her bottom lip. It was pink and plump and very kissable. Without thinking Stefan put his lips on hers.

Katherine was a little confused as well, but ended up kissing him back, resting her hand on the back on his neck as they stumbled towards the bed, their clothes half deserted.

* * *

When Katherine opened her eyes again, she found herself with a blanket thrown over her naked body and Stefan absentmindly playing with a loose curl. He smiled at her in a lazy sort of way. "Good morning."

"Morning." She said faintly, trying hard not to smile. She shouldn't even get excited last time that they had slept together he had basically said there could be no room for anyone in his life that wasn't Elena.

For all she knew, this was another one night stand, except Katherine was already pregnant. "What was that?" she blurted out. "Last night, what did that mean?"

"I don't know." Stefan told her honestly.

Katherine felt herself growing furious. "Thanks a lot."

"No, wait." He placed a hand over her palm to keep her from leaving. "That's not exactly what I wanted to say."

Katherine bit her lip. "Then what did you meant?"

Stefan didn't offer a response for a long time. "I meant, that you were right maybe I do have some unresolved feelings for you. I'm not saying let's get married and buy a white picket fence with a dog, but . . . I want to be there for you and for our baby."

Katherine nodded slowly, it wasn't a romantic proposal but it was a start. Katherine knew that she loved Stefan, that she had always loved Stefan doppelganger destiny or not. And Katherine was willing to give him more time so that he could realize his feelings for her. If he had any.

"Another thing," she said lightly. "I kind of want to see my baby grow up without worrying that I'm going to fall dead at any second, so-"

"We need to figure out a way to turn you back into a vampire." Stefan finished for her. "Got it." He squeezed her shoulder. "We'll figure something out."

* * *

The Salvatore's really needed some new books, Katherine thought as she looked over the Salvatore's ancient bookcase. They had all the classic books that no one cared about like the Scarlet Letter and Pride and Prejudice.

But Katherine didn't want to read them. She wanted a light, trashy read like maybe the Gossip Girl series or Fifty Shades of Grey.

Katherine's eyes caught something. A cookbook.

Katherine wished that she could cook and her mouth watered as she glanced through the pictures of Red velvet cakes, stuffed duck, and roast chicken. Pregnancy cravings were a bitch.

Katherine wished that she could eat the pages out of the book. She went into the kitchen and looked into the refrigerator, a cup of strawberry yogurt and an apple, great. She looked at the cookbook, she guessed that she could go to the grocery store and make a meal.

She brightened, she could totally surprise Stefan!

After all anyone who could read could cook. How hard could it be?

* * *

Cooking was not easy, not at all.

Katherine could honestly smell something burning, but she didn't know what. The entire kitchen and the floor was covered in some kind of sauce, flour, chocolate, and even maple syrup.

Katherine's own dark curly hair that was in a ponytail was covered with flour and eggshells. She should have just ordered take out.

"Katherine," Stefan unexpectedly rushed into the kitchen and turned off the oven where the chicken had turned coal black. He looked around the kitchen and saw the mess. "What were you doing?"

Katherine blushed bright red. "I was hungry . . . and I saw a cook book . . . and I decided that I was going to cook . . . it didn't turn out too well, it was stupid I know."

Stefan smiled as he wiped away the batter from Katherine's cheek. "Don't worry about it. How about you start cleaning up, I'll whip something up."

Katherine brown eyes widened in surprise. Stefan had never cooked for her. "Really?"

"Really. What do you want?"

After a moment Katherine said "Pancakes. I want pancakes."

* * *

Bonnie looked at her math textbook trying to remember the formulas. She heard someone mumbling in her ear. She sat up. What was that? Another ghost trying to pass through her?

The mumbling continued and Bonnie felt a sharp pain in her chest as she fell to the ground, unconscious. She could swear she heard someone say the name, Markos, but everything around her became dark.

-End of Chapter Eleven-

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	12. Baby Weight

_Chapter Twelve: Baby Weight_

"You felt someone pass through you?" Caroline squinted. The three girls were at the Grill, enjoying their ice teas on a warm Saturday afternoon when Bonnie had brought up the dreaded subject. "Isn't that normal?"

Bonnie shook her head as she bit her lip. She didn't remember much, all that she remembered was that she had passed out and had woken up on her dorm room floor. "I usually feel spirits pass through me, but this one felt like it was exiting. I passed out and when I woke up . . . nothing."

"That's impossible, Bonnie." Elena paused. "Isn't it?"

Bonnie sighed. "I don't know what to believe anymore, this is the supernatural world, anything can happen."

"Did you at least get a name? What he looked like?"

"Caroline, she was passed out."

"So?" Caroline flushed. "She could have still heard something."

"I did hear a name." Bonnie finally admitted, she frowned. "I'm not completely sure, but I'm almost 50 percent sure that I heard the name, Markos."

* * *

This was not fucking happening to her.

Katherine sucked in her cheeks, her eyes never leaving the mirror. It had only been one month ago when she had been complaining to Stefan about her almost non existing belly, now she actually had a belly. So either Katherine's clothes had shrunk or she had gained the dreaded "baby weight."

It didn't help that Stefan cooked for her whatever she was craving.

But it was almost a crime now that she couldn't get into her favorite leather pants. Her cheeks were flushed as she tried to put up the material, but her belly kept getting in the way. "Come on, for God's sakes!"

"What are you doing?"

Oh, great.

"Stefan." Katherine looked over her shoulder. "Perfect timing, help me get into these jeans."

Stefan's eyes drifted to the tight jeans to Katherine's swollen belly. "Yeah, that's not happening." He sighed. "I've been telling you for weeks that you need maternity clothes, Katherine."

Katherine flushed. "This is your fault."

Stefan looked amused. "How is this my fault?"

"Well for started you got me pregnant and you cook me good food, why can't you let me starve to death or something?" she demanded kicking the leather jeans to the floor, not caring that she was standing in her underwear.

"Because you need food," Stefan put his hands on her waist. "Come on, I'll take you to buy maternity clothes."

Katherine hissed. The last thing she wanted was for Stefan to see her buy maternity clothes. So not sexy. "Forget it, just give me your credit card and I'll go buy some."

Stefan paused, "Wait, you can't by yourself."

"Why not, oh white knight?"

"Well, Kat you're not exactly likable and you haven't exactly made friends in the last 500 years." He said. "Wait, give me a minute."

* * *

Caroline of all the people that had volunteer to take her maternity clothes shopping she had ended up with Caroline. Not that Katherine was complaining much, Katherine should actually be grateful since she didn't want Stefan to see her all fat and Elena and Bonnie had flat out refused to even see her, let alone take her shopping.

So Katherine was stuck with the perky blond as her shopping companion and bodyguard. Worse, Caroline actually seemed to be enjoying it.

"I'm not going in there." Katherine said firmly once Caroline parked her car in front of a bright pink store called Mommy and Me.

Caroline looked up. "What's wrong with it? I heard that the clothes are cute."

"Yeah, for pregnant women."

"And you are?" Caroline elaborated as she put on her dark sunglasses. "Besides you're just pissed that you can't fit into your leather jeans anymore. So come on Pierce, let's get you some clothes before your blouse explodes."

Katherine scowled as she followed the blond, practically putting up the hood of her sweater so that nobody would see her.

"Welcome," A perky assistant greeted her. "My name is Carla, can I help you find anything?"

Katherine snorted.

Caroline smiled at her. "No, thank you, we're just looking." She grabbed Katherine's wrist and pulled her towards the back on the room where the slightly more expensive clothes were. If there was one thing that Katherine liked, it was expensive clothes.

Caroline looked through the racks while Katherine stared on like an abandoned puppy. She finally pulled out a black, stretchy blouse that looked like the sort of top that Katherine usually wore.

"What about this, your highness?"

Katherine smirked as she touched the fabric. "It's . . . pretty." she finally forced herself to say.

"Good." Caroline put her hands on her waist. "Now some jeans so that your poor baby can breathe."

Katherine watched as Caroline ruffled through the jean stack, Katherine couldn't help but feel gratitude towards the blond. She could have just turned up her nose and decline to help her like Bonnie and Elena, but she didn't. She had stayed to help. "Um, Caroline thanks . . . for . . . um coming . . . I don't know if Stefan forced you . . . but thanks."

"Stefan, didn't forced me to do anything." Caroline said, the twitch of a smile on her lips. "And you're welcome."

* * *

"Hey, did you find anything?" Stefan asked later that evening as he walked into the room and saw Katherine sleepily watching TV on the bed. He mused when he saw the dozen or so shopping bags thrown across the room. Katherine wasn't exactly neat.

"A few things." She raised her head from her pillow. "Caroline is a decent shopper."

"Did you play nice?"

She scowled at him. "I'm always nice," it took her a minute to see that Stefan was joking. "Come watch TV with me."

He laid on the bed next her. "What are you watching?"

"The Devil Wears Prada." She raised an eyebrow when she saw Stefan staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing." He said. "You just didn't seem like the type to watch chick flicks."

Katherine huffed as she rested her head on his arm, so that it draped over her shoulder. "Well, I'm pregnant, there's not much that I can do and besides you don't know everything about me."

-End of Chapter Twelve-

Thanks for your reviews!


	13. Unwanted Guests

_Chapter Thirteen: Unwanted Guests_

"How many of them are there left?" Markos asked his loyal band of Travelers, the ones that had brought him back from the Other Side. When no one answered him, he asked impatiently. "Well?"

"Four, sir." A petite, red head said. "Two Silas doppelgangers and two Amara doppelgangers."

"Good." Markos said. "With all the vampires running around, I was afraid that there were going to be more."

When nobody else said anything, he said almost said lazily. "Well, what are you waiting for? I want one of each dead."

* * *

Damon frowned when he saw the dozens of wooden chest and drawers that were blocking the entryway towards the stairway. He sniffed, this had "lazy Katherine" and "anxious, soon to be Daddy Stefan" written all over it.

Knowing that he was going to regret it, he hopped up the stairs and saw even more antiqued furniture that they never used stacked together in the hallways. He heard Katherine's low, girlish voice and Stefan's deep voice the closer he moved towards the guest rooms.

". . . We are not painting the room pink," Katherine huffed. "I don't care if its tradition, I hate pink, maybe a nice turquoise or lavender, you know since you won't let me paint it black."

"It's a nursery, Katherine not a morgue." Stefan said. "And we need to know the gender of the baby before we can paint the room. But if we are having a girl, I like the color pink it's traditional-"

"-It's boring." Katherine interrupted.

"Ehem!" Damon interrupted as he stood in the doorway and saw Stefan and Katherine arguing in the middle of the second largest guest room. "Sorry to interrupt whatever this is, but do either of you want to explain why half of my house looks like IKEA?"

"We're remodeling, duh," Katherine said sarcastically as if should have been obvious. "My baby is not going to be sleeping in a dog house."

"It would be appropriate since its mother is a bitch-"

"That's enough," Stefan interrupted. "We'll get the junk out of the way soon, Katherine and I are just arguing about . . . everything. We want to get it done before Katherine reaches her term."

"So you two are getting your nest ready, how adorable." Damon said sarcastically.

Katherine sighed as she grabbed a box of stuffed animals (that Caroline had brought over) ignoring Stefan's attempts to help her. "What are you doing here anyway, I thought you were going to visit your darling Elena?"

Damon shrugged. "She had finals."

"That's what compulsion is for," Katherine rolled her eyes. "How pathetic that you have nothing better to do than bother me and Stefan."

"Says the one that is knocked up with nowhere to go."

"At least I have a much more interesting personality."

In the mist of the Katherine-Damon battle, they both ignored the fact that the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Stefan said. "Please don't kill each other."

"I make no promises, brother."

Stefan ignored him as he hopped down the stairs and answered the door. He frowned when he saw two unfamiliar people. "Can I help you?"

"Wow, you do look like him." The blond girl said.

"Who?"

"Silas." The blond hair girl said as if it should have been obvious. She saw the way that Stefan flinched when she said Silas' name. "Sorry, hit a sore spot."

"Who are you?" Stefan asked tightly.

"My name is Luke and this is my twin sister, Liv." Luke said. "We're witches."

"All right." Stefan said tightly. "That still doesn't explain why you're standing on my doorstep."

Liv and Luke exchanged looks. "We came to deliver a message from our coven, the Travelers are after you."

* * *

A penny dropping could be heard through the awkward silence if they tried hard enough. It had been fifteen minutes since Luke and Liv had walked through that door and brought the news that had shaken all of them. Fifteen minutes ago Katherine and Stefan had been arguing about nursery colors and they had just been delivered the news that they might not even see they baby be born.

Apparently, Markos the Travelers' leader was determined to stop the curse placed on the Travelers which forbid them from staying in one place. Slight problem there were four doppelgangers still remaining. Which meant that either she or Elena had to die and Stefan or his other Silas doppelganger.

"You're lying." Katherine said flatly as she put her tea cup down, ignoring the fact that Stefan was gripping her hand.

"No, I'm not." Liv said, staring at Damon's empty spot, as soon as he heard the word sacrifice he had rushed towards Whitmore College to warn Elena, letting Stefan and Katherine to deal with this on their own. "The Travelers will come for you, their leader Markos has risen. Our coven has send us to warn you, we want as many doppelgangers alive, and if the travelers get back their magic . . . it will be hell to say the least."

"My father was a traveler does that mean that their little spell affects me?" Katherine asked with a pointed glance.

"Have you ever done a spell?"

"Well, no-"

"Then you're not a Traveler officially."

"What do you mean Markos has risen?" Stefan asked them. "Was he dead or something?"

Luke nodded. "He was dead, he crossed over the Other Side when some of the Travelers sacrificed themselves to bring him back, and now they are going to be after you. After all four of you."

"But specifically you," Liv said staring at Katherine's pregnant belly. "You're human. You're pregnant. Which means you're an easy target and killable. So I suggest you pack your bags and leave."

* * *

"Charleston?" Katherine raised her heard tiredly from where she had been resting it against the window. "That's not exactly far."

As soon as Liv had given her warning Stefan and Katherine had packed up their stuff and got into Stefan's little red car and drove as far away as they could only telling Caroline and Matt where they were going. From what Katherine knew Damon and Elena were also on the run.

Katherine had slept most of the way, trying to ignore the fear inside her. What if she died? What if the baby died? What if Stefan died?

"We'll switch towns every once in a while." Stefan said as he parked in front of small bed and breakfast. "Luke said that he was going to put a cloaking spell on us."

Katherine nodded.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine." She forced a smile as she looked at the bed and breakfast. "So this is our new home, huh?"

-End of Chapter Thirteen-


	14. On The Run

_Chapter Fourteen: On the Run_

Katherine was tired of moving. They had been running for only a little while, but it seemed like a lifetime to Katherine. Even when she was on the run from Klaus she didn't have to run this long or constantly looking over her shoulder.

Perhaps it had been easier being on the run from Klaus because she knew that she was not Klaus main target and because she was always looking out for herself. Now she had Stefan and her baby to look after.

"But why do we have to keep moving?" Katherine had complained to Stefan once they reached their third city in less than three weeks. "Those witches already did a cloaking spell."

Stefan assured her. "We can't risk it, maybe the Travelers know of a way to find us either way." He put a reassuring hand on her growing belly. "This will soon be over, Katherine."

Katherine wasn't so sure, but she didn't want to be a downer. So she did what Katherine did best. Think of a plan B. Though being pregnant and human sort of limited her options.

Katherine was looking outside of the window in their small, temporary home in Atlanta, Georgia telling herself not to get used to the sweet air since they would probably be packing by tomorrow.

She was just starting out the window when Stefan came into the room and saw her. It didn't take a genius to see that Katherine was getting depressed and anxious, not that she would ever admit it, but even Stefan had to admit that she wasn't like her usual self. She was losing all of her sass.

"Come on." He said. If he saw her stare at that damn tree in the backyard one more time he was going to lose it. "Put on a jacket."

"Where are we going?" Katherine asked dazedly.

"To a doctor."

"A doctor? I'm not sick."

"No." Stefan said a playful smile playing on his lips. "I think we both need something to cheer us up. We're going to find out the gender of our baby."

* * *

"Couldn't you honestly picked a better clinic? Something that is less happy perhaps with not so many kids?" Katherine hissed at Stefan. They were in the middle of small clinic that made Katherine feel like she was trapped in a Lucky Charms box. It didn't help that there were dozens of screaming little kids and annoyed mothers.

"You're charming today." Stefan said as he peeked up from a parents' magazine. "Will you relax, they will be with us in a moment."

"Sorry." Katherine sighed. "Hormones."

A few minutes later a young nurse said. "Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore, Dr. Hart is ready to see you."

"Mrs. Salvatore?" Katherine raised an eyebrow.

Stefan shrugged as they entered a small pale room, there was a slight blush coating his cheeks. "I thought it would be easier."

"Welcome," Dr. Hart said, the doctor was considerably older than her, physically at least she was around fifty. "How are you feeling Mrs. Salvatore?"

"I never felt better actually." Katherine half lied as she laid down on the small table. Dr. Hart pulled up her shirt lightly exposing her belly. She put a clear gel over it as she looked at the small black and white screen attached to the monitor.

Stefan noticed her silence. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no wrong exactly," Dr. Hart turned to them. "How do you feel about expecting twins?"

Katherine let out a small laugh. "Twins are you serious?"

"Look for yourselves." Dr. Hart pointed to the screen. "You're going to have a healthy baby boy and girl."

Stefan squeezed her shoulder, giving her a slight kiss on the cheek, their eyes glued on the small screen.

* * *

"You better have good news." Katherine threatened over the phone where Liv was currently on the other side of it.

"Katherine." Stefan sighed. Apparently the threat approach wasn't good for him. Katherine shrugged, not really caring what Stefan thought, all that she knew was that the stakes had risen once she found out that she was carrying twins and this was not the time to sit back and relax.

"What kind of news do you have Liv?" Stefan asked.

"Well, we put a cloaking spell on you, Elena, and Katherine. The only one without a cloaking spell at the moment is the Silas doppelganger who we don't know who it is."

"That's good for us," Katherine smiled, satisfied. "As long as Stefan is alive, I'm good. Now the only problem is-"us, she wanted to say, but the words never left her mouth. "Speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask you why the witches want all of the doppelgangers alive."

"The witches and the travelers have had a bad relationship to say the least for centuries." Liv explained. "Having the doppelgangers is a way to keep the balance in nature, we want them alive so that the Travelers don't do the spell they need to give them the ability to grant themselves more power. That's why the witches want to keep you guys alive."

Stefan sighed. "So what now? Liv, we can't be on the run for the rest of our lives. Katherine will give birth in a few months and traveling with babies it's going to be a hell lot more difficult-"

"I know Stefan believe me," Liv interrupted. "All I'm asking you is to be patient."

* * *

Katherine checked her groceries in her small food cart as the cashier put them in bags and ran her bill. She looked at the food that she was about to purchase chicken, potatoes, vegetables, chocolate cake, and apple cider (since she couldn't drink.) Stefan had insisted that they cooked up a celebration dinner. Well he, Katherine had pointed out since she would probably burn down the kitchen.

Stefan had wanted to pick up the dinner things himself, but Katherine had insisted that she do it because she wanted to clear her head. She couldn't believe that she was having twins, a baby girl and a baby boy. It was sort of a miracle.

After she had paid for her purchases, Katherine struggled with the many food items she was carrying towards the parking lot.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

"Very funny, Stefan." The smile was wiped off Katherine's face when she saw the man's confused face. A man who looked surprisingly like Stefan. "No. . .Wait." This was the other Stefan's doppelganger, unbelievable, he even had Stefan's sweet face.

"I'm not Stefan." The man said. "I'm Tom Avery."

Tom had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when a woman snapped his neck. The woman was tall with dark blond hair. Katherine dropped her bags and attempted to leave, but the woman, stronger than she looked managed to pin Katherine to the wall.

The woman recited the spell to passenger herself into Katherine's body. "Jaryakat a zem. Daryyett acza."

Katherine's eyes turned black and she went into oblivion.

-End of Chapter Fourteen-


	15. Katherine Asleep, Elena Dead

**Chapter Fifteen: Katherine Asleep, Elena Dead**

The name of the passenger inside Katherine's body was Marissa Ryan, she knew that it was risky passaging herself in Katherine's body, especially since Katherine could wake up now at any moment and Stefan was with her at every moment. Since Tom was dead, Stefan was safe.

Now the tricky part was for Katherine not to reappear when she was with Stefan and blurt out what was happening, so "Katherine" had made a new friend. Another one of her passenger's friends visited more often to make sure that Marissa stayed in control of Katherine's body.

When Marissa's friend Janet came to visit Stefan most of the time left them alone so that they could talk.

"Well, we have to kill one of the Amara doppelgangers soon. Marissa." Janet said impatiently. "Marko's won't wait for much longer and the other one is a vampire, the human doppelganger will be an easier kill."

"I know, Janet." Marissa said sighing as she put her hand on her belly. "But she's pregnant and I've always had a weakness for babies."

Janet scoffed. "Do you think Markos will care, come on Marissa don't be stupid. If you don't have the guts to do it, I'll kill her myself."

"No, wait, the other Amara doppelganger. What if we kill her instead? She may not like Katherine, but she will help Stefan." Marissa had gotten bits and pieces about the relationship between the doppelgangers. "We can kill her and this girl and her baby could live."

Janet said. "I suppose, but how are we going to lure her here?"

Marissa grabbed Katherine's phone that was sitting on the table. "Leave that to me."

* * *

"Elena," Marissa said the word cautiously, not really sure of the present relationship between doppelgangers. "It's me . . . Katherine."

"Katherine?" Elena sounded surprise. "What do you want?"

Marissa lowered her voice into a whimper and pretended to cry.

"Katherine? Katherine what's wrong?" Elena voice grew panicked.

"Stefan," she chocked out. "Stefan's hurt, you have to help him, I don't know what to do."

After a pause Elena said. "Where are you?"

"Atlanta." Marissa said. "Atlanta, Georgia, 1569 Derby road."

"We're not far from there." Elena replied. "Damon and I will come soon-"

"No," Marissa interrupted sharply. "Just you, I don't want Damon to come."

There was a brief pause before Elena said. "All right."

"Well?" Janet asked impatiently. "Did it work, will she come?"

"It's done."

* * *

Half an hour later there was a knock on the door, Marissa stood up and nodded towards Janet who was safely hidden in the opposing room, with a stake ready. She opened the door and found Elena there with her arms crossed over her chest. "Hello, Elena."

Elena didn't offer a greeting in return. "Where's Stefan?"

"Around." Marissa said vaguely as she handed her a vervain filled tea. "Tea?"

Elena narrowed her eyes as she smashed the tea cup against the wall. "What the hell is going on Katherine? Where's Stefan?"

Marissa narrowed her eyes. "No need to be rude. _Manere."_

Elena groaned as she clutched her head and fell on her knees. "What the hell?" since when was Katherine a witch? "Who are you?"

"Janet now!" she yelled and before Elena could even blink she felt a horrible pain in her chest. A stake was sticking out.

"Why?" Elena chocked out, her skin turning gray. "Go to hell."

Marissa smirked as Elena fell to the floor, she looked at Janet. "It is done. You go." Janet nodded.

At that moment the door flew open and Stefan and Damon came into the room. "Katherine, what-"Stefan froze as he saw Elena's dead body. "What-no."

"No, this can't be happening!" Damon shouted as he cradled Elena's head. "No, no please don't be dead, please."

"Katherine," Stefan looked at her strangely. "Did you-"

"I'm not Katherine." Marissa responded. "I have merely taken refuge is her body."

"What?" Damon hissed.

"My name is Marissa, Mr. Salvatore." Marissa said. "The travelers know you're here. I took refuge in order to kill Katherine, but instead we choose to kill Elena. Now you two are the only doppelgangers alive, I've had, had full possession of Katherine's body for days now do not blame her for this. The travelers know where you are. I'm sorry, Mr. Salvatore." Katherine's eyes turned black as she fell into Stefan's awaiting arms.

"Katherine," Stefan whispered trying to keep his voice from trembling. "Katherine, are you ok?"

It took a while for Katherine's vison to settle, but when it did her eyes landed on Elena's dead body. "What happened?" she asked confused.

Damon looked at her, his eyes angry. "You did this!" he hissed as he pushed Katherine against the wall, half strangling her.

Katherine screamed as she made small, chocking sounds. She tried to pull Damon's hands away from her throat. "I didn't do it-"

Stefan pushed Damon away from her. "Get away from her! Get out of my house!"

"Why are you still defending her?" Damon snarled. "Typical. She just killed Elena!"

"She didn't do this." Stefan pointed out as he put a reassuring hand on Katherine's shoulder. "The travelers did."

Damon scoffed as he picked up Elena. "You'll pay for this." He said towards Katherine. "I don't know how or when, but you will pay for this kitty kit."

Katherine flinched when Damon slammed the door. She turned to Stefan. "What happened? I don't understand? Stefan, I forgot to tell you when I went to the grocery store there was a man, Tom-Tom Avery I think, he was the other doppelganger, but they killed him." Katherine tried to remember more, but everything became blank. She could only remember a woman attacking her. "And that is all. What happened? I feel like I've been asleep for days."

Stefan grimaced. "Well, that's one way to put it."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

"We have a lot of catching up to do."

-End of Chapter Fifteen-


	16. Blood on their Hands

_Chapter Sixteen: Blood on their Hands_

"Are you ok?" Stefan asked as he looked towards the passenger side. He saw Katherine squirming in her seat. It had been only two days since they had left Atlanta and Katherine was only one of the few people that continued giving him the silent treatment ever since the passenger exited her body.

Katherine gave him the silent treatment because she had been pissed that Stefan hadn't found out sooner and everyone else because he was protecting Katherine even though she wasn't technically in her right mind when Elena had been killed. Not that anyone cared much about details.

"I'm fine." She sighed as she continued squirming. Her belly seemed larger than it had been two days ago. "It's just my belly gets in the way of everything and I'm always tired."

Stefan smiled. "You're in your seventh month, just a little less than a month left,"

"I think you mean two months."

"Twins are born earlier, the space inside you is smaller." Stefan corrected as they approached the Forbes cabin where Caroline had offered refuge. "Here we are, there she is."

Katherine sighed. "Are you sure we should stay here? Caroline hates me, and it doesn't help that she thinks I killed Elena."

"She doesn't hate you." Stefan urged. "Caroline is a lot more diplomatic."

They got out of the car and walked towards the blond. Caroline gave Stefan a hug. "Stefan, how are you?" she nodded politely in Katherine's direction, but Katherine noticed her distance and that annoyed her. "Katherine, so everything is set. Here are the keys." She placed the key in his palm. "Well see you."

"Wait," Katherine blurted out. "You're not saying."

Caroline shook her head. "I need to plan Elena's f-"she trailed off. "I just need to leave."

* * *

"Are you hungry?" Stefan asked as he entered the bedroom and saw Katherine half asleep and surrounded by blankets.

She shook her head and raised her head like a peace offering. She patted the bed. "Come sleep with me."

Stefan smiled as he sat next to her and Katherine found her way into his arms. "So I'm forgiven?" he asked teasingly.

Katherine nodded. "You're forgiven. This time." Katherine winced. "Ow."

Stefan sat up alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing the babies just like kicking me a lot." She placed his hand on her belly and the babies kicked again. "See."

"Wow," Stefan stuttered. "That's amazing, do they do that all the time?"

"More recently, I think they are all cramped up in there." They heard a noise. "What's that?"

"I don't know." They went downstairs and heard a knock on the door. Stefan opened it and found a band of travelers who immediately started reciting. Stefan and Katherine fell on their knees clutching their heads in pain as everything became dark.

* * *

"Get up."

Stefan heard a voice say, but he couldn't understand it. He felt something sharp digging his wrists and he felt that he was losing blood. "Get up!" the voice said again and he felt his wrists being released.

Stefan let out a low groan.

"Hurry up, before they find you." A dark blond hair girl snapped. "Get your girl and get the hell out of here. She's in the next room over."

"Who are you?" Stefan murmured.

"Marissa." Marissa said. "I was the one that passenger myself into Katherine's body, consider this my way of apologizing."

* * *

Katherine woke up slowly, she felt something sharp hitting her arms as warm blood dribbled down her arms and dropped into baskets. Her eyes twitched in the bright sunlight as she felt someone pressing a hand on her belly.

"The children of doppelgangers." Markos said. "How inconvenient."

Katherine's protective instincts kicked in as she attempted to kick Markos, but Markos just pushed her back. "I'll dead with you soon enough, human doppelganger." He said coldly as he turned around. "You should have saved the vampire, they are more resistant."

Katherine tried to hear more, but she soon fell into unconsciousness.

After what felt like hours she felt someone gently slapping her face and releasing her wrists. "Katherine, Katherine wake up."

She forced her eyes to open. "Stefan."

Stefan nodded. "I'm here." He picked her up and Katherine wrapped her arms around his neck.

* * *

"There's nothing out here for miles!" Katherine cried out as she and Stefan walked down the dirty, empty road. They had managed to slip by without any of the Travelers or Markos catching them thanks to Marissa. But not that they were much better off, now they were in the middle of nowhere with no car or money.

Stefan pulled out his phone, the hot sun was becoming unbearable. "There's still no signal." He groaned. At this point it would be miles before they reached any place with a phone signal. He looked at Katherine who was basically wobbling next to him. He noticed that her clothes were covered in blood. She had lost blood and Stefan cursed the fact that he couldn't cure her with vampire blood.

"Are you ok?" he asked guiltily. "Of course not, we should find a tree so you can rest-"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Stefan stop being such a worrywart."

"I just want you and our babies to be safe."

"They will be safe." She pointed out. "They have the survival gene."

Stefan began to laugh when he saw a car approach them. "Look, people finally is that Luke?"

Katherine squinted. "Yes!" she waved her hands. "Over here!"

Luke stopped the car. "You're still alive. Did they do any kind of spell?"

Katherine and Stefan exchanged looks. "No, they did drain us of some of our blood." He looked at Katherine. "We need to get to a clinic or something so that Katherine can get check out."

Katherine rolled her eyes.

Luke paled. "Shit, it's too soon."

Katherine scoffed. "It's just a little blood."

"The doppelganger blood is what they need, they can do the spell at any time now!" he snapped, as he looked at them apologetic. He locked his car. "I'm so sorry."

"What-"the words barely left Stefan's mouth when he felt something sharp against his chest. He heard Katherine shrieked when she saw the stake snide his chest and Stefan's body slowly turning gray as he started limping. "No, Stefan!" she cradle his head in her arms.

Liv stood behind them a few miles off, carrying a sort of bow that shot the stake. There was a guilty look on her face.

"What the hell did you do?" Katherine snarled at the twins as Liv got into the passenger seat. "What the hell did you do? I'll tear your heart out!"

"We're sorry." Liv said as Luke tuned on the engine. "It was the only way, we can't let the Travelers get what they want."

Katherine ignored them as she stroked Stefan's gray face. "No, please . . . Stefan wake up . . . please, I love you. You can't leave me alone, please."

-End of Chapter Sixteen-


	17. Mourning

_Chapter Seventeen: Mourning_

"Stefan," Katherine could barely see through her tears. "Stefan, please wake up, please." Though she knew what she was doing was beyond stupid. Stefan was dead, in a few minutes his body would begin to desiccate, and here she was in the middle of nowhere, pregnant, hurt, and with no protection.

Katherine fumbled inside her jeans pocket and grabbed her cell phone, Stefan's own phone hadn't received any signal, but maybe her's might. She looked at it and saw that it showed two tiny bars indicating that she had at least some signal. She dialed Damon's number. "Please pick up."

"What the hell do you want?" Damon snapped through the other end, great he was already sounding drunk.

"Stefan is dead, Damon." Katherine blurted out, there was no room for small talk. "Luke and Liv killed him."

She heard Damon hesitated at the other end. "Where are you?"

"I don't know."

She heard Damon curse from the other end. "I'll trace your phone. Don't move."

Katherine hung up as she looked at Stefan's desiccated face. He was the least person that deserved death. She touched his cheek. "I'll find a way to bring you back, I swear."

* * *

Katherine didn't know for how long she waited or if anyone else passed through, all she remembered was that the day had slowly turned to dark and Stefan seemed to grow colder. Finally she saw a dark blue car park in front of her. Damon and Caroline got out of the car and Caroline let out a pitiful whine.

Damon simply said. "Stefan."

"I couldn't leave him here." Katherine said as a form of greeting. "By himself."

Damon and Caroline exchanged glances. "Blondie, take Katherine into the car, I'll take care of Stefan."

"Take care? What is that supposed to mean?" Katherine felt herself getting angry. "Damon, we need to bring him back to life, he can't stay dead!"

"Blondie, now!" Damon snapped.

Caroline hurried towards Katherine and grasped her arm and said gently as she led her back to the car. "Come on, Katherine."

Katherine shook her head. "Caroline, you don't understand we need to bring him back, he can't be dead!"

"We won't," Caroline said soothingly. "We'll figure out a way, now Katherine you need to calm down it's not good for the babies."

The babies, that's right Katherine had to think about the babies. Caroline helped her get into the car and handed her a blanket. "Do you need anything?"

Katherine clutched the blanket. "I need Stefan."

* * *

"So what do we do now?" Katherine said as she eyed the people who were her only hope of getting Stefan back Jeremy, Bonnie, Damon, and Caroline. It had been only a few days since Stefan had died, but to Katherine it felt like a lifetime, it didn't help either that nobody seemed to know what to do.

"You better have something," Damon hissed at Bonnie. "I want my brother back."

Bonnie bit her lip. "There is something we can do, before the other side disappears for good, a spell. Like the kind of spell that I used to bring Jeremy back to life so that there's a door to connect the other side and the real world. Once that door is open Stefan, Elena, and anyone who passes through me can come back.

"We need to get a witch to do the spell." Jeremy piped in.

"Perfect, Liv and Luke." Caroline clapped her hands, looking happier than she had in days. "Done."

"I doubt, team Blondie is going to want to help us." Damon scoffed.

"Leave that to me." Katherine said, speaking up for the first time, feeling full of adrenaline.

Damon sneered. "You?" he stared at her belly. "What are you going to do?"

A familiar smirk appeared on her face. "You'll be surprise."

Damon raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "All right, moving on to the second part of the plan, destroying Marko's, he and his minions are here in Mystic Falls, pissed because the witches cost them one doppelganger and the second one is hiding, so we kill two birds with one stone. If we can get them all in one place they will be easier to kill."

Jeremy frowned. "How are you going to do that?"

Caroline and Damon exchanged glances. "We've already decided that, me and Forbes here. Just know that The Grill will end up disappearing and it will be project kaboom."

"But you'll die," Katherine blurted out.

"Aw, worried about me, kitty kat?" Damon smirked. "Yes, I will die, but not for long, I'll get Elena and we'll pass through Bonnie and then everything will be perfect."

* * *

Stefan wasn't sure where he was only that it didn't seem like a very familiar place, it just seemed like empty rows that seemed to be continuing to nowhere. He couldn't believe that he actually died, he was going to be stuck here at least until the Other Side disappeared and he wouldn't see Damon again or Caroline, he would never see Katherine again or meet his babies.

"Wow, you haven't changed." A familiar voice said. "Still as broody as ever."

Stefan raised his head. "Lexi!"

Lexi grinned. "The one and only, never thought I'd see you here." She hugged him tightly. "It's good to see you, Stefan."

"You too," Stefan said excitedly. "I'm so glad you're here, I thought that-"

"I was whisked away, no thanks." Lexi mused. "Which gives me plenty of time to scold you for getting Katherine Pierce pregnant of all people."

Stefan groaned. "Not you too."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Come on, you spended a century hating the girl, you can't blame me for being the least bit curious about how you ended up sleeping with her and knocking her up."

Stefan shrugged. "Things changed, the situations-I think being human really helped her evolved she stopped looking like a monster and more like a person who's been through a lot. And after all that has happened, it brought us closer together, I mean we're going to have twins-"

"Oh, my god you're in love with her!" Lexi teased as she slapped his shoulder. "Not your smartest idea, but I don't want us to leave on the wrong foot so-"

Stefan laughed. "Thanks, Lexi I'm glad that I'm spending my last moments with you at least." He paused. "Where's Elena?"

Lexi's smile faded. "She's gone Stefan."

"Gone where?"

"I don't know, you said it yourself, the Other Side is disappearing, and she was sucked into oblivion."

-End of Chapter Seventeen-

Thanks for your reviews!


	18. Dangerous Measures

_Chapter Eighteen: Dangerous Measures_

"Do you hear that?" Liv asked her twin. They were in the cemetery hiding, true the cemetery might not be the ideal place for a hiding spot, but at this point it was everything they had, especially since the Travelers had taken over the town.

Luke looked up. "Hear what? You're acting paranoid."

"Which is understandable since there is no shortage of people trying to kill us." Liv replied sarcastically.

"Fine," Luke stood up as he grabbed a flashlight. "I'll got check it out, stop being such a baby." He exited the tent that he and Liv had hastily made and had barely taken a step inside when they heard a neck snap.

"Luke!" Liv cried out as she exited the tent and cradle her dead brother's body. She looked up with tears in her eyes at Caroline (who had snapped Luke's neck) and Katherine who was smirking and crossing her arms over her chest. "You two again, goody."

"We need you to do a spell." Katherine said eyeing Luke's dead body "And I suggest we hurry up before your brother gets sucked in like a tornado. But all will be forgiven the minute that Stefan comes back alive and actually sees his children and doesn't leave me a widow."

Liv let out a cold laugh. "Please, I know what kind of spell you want me to do, and I won't. It takes too much power for one witch, it could kill me."

"Well then I guess you won't be seeing your brother again, now will you?" Caroline replied coldly.

They saw Liv stiffen and they knew that they had gotten her weakness. "All right, I'll do it, but whoever wants to cross over, they need to do it fast. I won't be able to keep the barrier open for much longer."

Katherine nodded as she bit her lip, trying not to let the nervousness show. It had to work, it had too. Stefan needed to be alive. "Ow," Katherine whimpered as she suddenly felt a throbbing pain. Five minutes later, there it was again.

Caroline finally looked up. "What's wrong?"

Katherine shook her head. "Nothing."

"It's not nothing." Caroline's blue eyes widened. "Katherine are you going into labor?"

"I can't." she snapped, but the pain she was feeling was eerily similar to the contractions she had felt back in 1490. She shut her eyes closed. "It's too soon." She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming.

"You've been under a lot of stress." Caroline corrected as she grabbed her cell phone and started dialing. "And sometimes babies can be born early."

"Who are you calling?" Katherine asked as she forced herself to grab a headstone. Defiantly a bad time to have a baby.

"Matt," Caroline responded. "He can drive you to the hospital, there is no way I'm leaving the witch by herself."

* * *

"Oh, my god!" Katherine shrieked, not caring who heard or if she was embarrassing Matt as he parked in the emergency lot at the Mystic Falls hospital. Ever since Matt had picked her up twenty five minutes ago the pain seemed to worsen, it felt like someone was stabbing her over and over again.

"Easy, easy." Matt whispered as he grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to help her inside. "It's going to be ok-"

"Is it supposed to hurt like this?" Katherine snapped.

Matt looked perplexed as the hospital doors open. "Uh, I don't know I've never had a baby before." He waved towards the first nurse he saw, desperate to get rid of Katherine. "Nurse, help please this woman is having a baby!"

The nurse nodded as she came in wheeling a wheel chair. She looked at Matt. "Are you the father?"

"Oh, please!" Katherine scoffed, the pain was getting worse. "Who cares about him? Just give me drugs!"

"No," Matt said confirming it. "I'm her friend, a friend of the father." He corrected not wanting to be tied to Katherine in any way.

The nurse nodded. "Well, please wait here, I'll have you fill out a few forms, while we-"

"Will both of you shut and give me pain killers?" Katherine snapped and the nurse finally wheeled her away from Matt and towards a separate room.

"First baby?" the nurse asked as she helped Katherine take off her jeans and blouse and put on a white cotton garment.

"Babies." Katherine corrected. "And second actually, now can you please give me some drugs?"

The nurse shook her head. "I'm afraid it's too late for that, honey. You're dilated enough, I'm afraid the babies will be here any second now. No drugs for you."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Katherine snarled as another contraction hit her. They seemed to be happening more after and the pain was more intense. She clinched her teeth and she let out a scream.

* * *

Katherine felt like she was floating, but not in a good way. She didn't know how to explain it exactly only that she no longer felt pain, it was like her entire body was tired of feeling pain and just let her relax.

Everything around her was becoming fuzzy and hard to see, like she felt when she needed sleep. Her body was quivering, but she didn't know why. Was she still at the hospital? She honestly didn't know. Even the noises around her were becoming hard to hear, she could hear people panicking, a baby cry, another baby crying, but that was it, she couldn't put the pieces together.

". . . She's losing too much blood. . ."

"Oxygen tank. . ."

". . . Can we save her?"

"Sir, you can't be here!"

Someone was patting her cheek. "Hello, love." Katherine's brown eyes widened.

That voice.

She couldn't quite see it, but she knew that voice well enough. She felt the warm gush of blood inside her mouth and then everything went black.

* * *

"It's becoming worse, isn't it?" Stefan asked Lexi, all around them seemed to be like a very big storm, like they were caught in a tornado.

Lexi raised an eyebrow. "Define worse."

Stefan smiled. Everything seemed too real now. He really was dead. His only regret was not seeing his babies grow up and leaving a human Katherine alone to clean up his messes. "Are you afraid?"

"Of death. No, you?"

Stefan shrugged. "I don't have another option."

"Stefan!"

Stefan turned around. "It can't be." Running towards him was his brother Damon, his lips pulling into a smile, but his eyes filled with terror. "Damon."

"We don't have time for this." Damon said briefly glancing at Lexi. "We need to cross through Bonnie, we don't have enough time."

-End of Chapter Eighteen-


	19. Reunion

_Chapter Nineteen: Reunion_

"Hurry!" Bonnie called out towards Lexi, Stefan, and Damon, they were surrounded by forests and tombstones while everything seemed to be spinning, the wind howling. It felt like being trapped in a tornado.

Bonnie's face was pale and anxious and she was clutching her stomach. She offered her hand. "Hurry, please."

Stefan looked at Lexi. "Go!" Lexi frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but Stefan read her thoughts. "You go first, we'll follow!"

Lexi nodded as she grabbed Bonnie's hand. Bonnie bit her lip to keep from screaming out and instead simply clutched her stomach. She turned towards them and whispered. "Hurry." She could already feel like she was being disconnected from her human self, the minute that the Other Side was fully destroyed, then she would follow suit.

Stefan turned to Damon and offered his hand. "Come on."

"I can't leave without Elena," Damon insisted. "Where is she?"

"She's gone, Damon!" Stefan shouted. "She was sucked into oblivion, you will never see her again, please don't do this, brother-"

Damon shook his head, he no longer looked like the arrogant older brother, he looked wiser and calmer. "No, brother I'm staying. Elena is the love of my life, I won't leave her behind. If she stays here, so do I." he gave him a wry smile. "You be sure to tell the kids about their reckless Uncle Damon, all right?"

Stefan felt his throat tightening, no Damon couldn't stay here, especially over a girl that was already dead. "Damon-"he felt Bonnie grab his hand roughly and everything seemed too disappeared.

* * *

Stefan felt like he was tumbling over, even though someone was holding his hand. He squinted his eyes shut as dozens of names came across his mind. Damon. Elena. Bonnie. Katherine. His babies. Lexi.

"Stefan." He felt Lexi steadying him, her eyes filled with concern. "Stefan, are you ok?"

"Damon," he choked out. "Damon, isn't here."

Lexi shook her head. "No, weren't both of you able to past?"

Stefan shook his head, his body felt shaky as he rummage a hand through his dark hair. "No, he refused to, he said he wanted to be with Elena." He broke off. "Where's Bonnie?"

Lexi bit her lip. "She's gone Stefan, I watched her body disappear. She was part of the Other Side which means that when it was gone, she would be gone too."

Stefan bow his head, not wanting to cry. This was not the time to cry. "God." He squinted his eyes shut, not able to express in words how terrible he was feeling, not only had he lost a friend, but he had lost his older brother. Lexi, however understood him perfectly.

Lexi hugged him. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

Katherine's eyes flew open as she sat up with a gasp as she looked around the small, hospital room. She was alive. She wasn't dead. Why wasn't she dead? She felt someone snap her neck. She looked around the room and saw Caroline looking at her with big blue eyes while Klaus sat there and smirked. Simply smirked

"I can't believe it," Caroline squealed. "It worked, it actually worked!"

"I told you it would love," Klaus said. "Hybrid blood is far more powerful."

"Klaus? Caroline?" Katherine demanded trying to ignore the pain she felt in her dry throat. "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"You're welcome, love." Klaus said sarcastically. "It's not my fault you were dying, and if were up to me you would be dead right now, but Caroline won't permit it."

"Lucky me." She turned to the blond. "What happened?"

"I called Klaus to tell him about Stefan's death since they were sort of friends." Caroline said. "Then I went to the hospital and they told me you were dying from blood lost and I couldn't leave the twins orphans, and Klaus came and he said maybe with hybrid blood it will work!"

"You never thought that I might actually die?" Katherine snapped, though a part of her was also jumping in circles, she was a vampire again! Or close.

Klaus scoffed. "You're alive, aren't you." He handed her a blood bag. Katherine's eyes narrowed. "Oh, relax Katerina I didn't poison it and don't you get snarky on me, I saved your life."

"Yes, after you almost ended it." She looked at Caroline nervously. "Any word on Stefan yet?"

She shook her head. "No, but Klaus and I did see the twins in the hospital nursery, they are so cute. Good thing they got Stefan's charm." She joked.

Katherine didn't respond as she took a sip of the blood. "Can I see them?"

"Not yet, but they are doing routine checks, soon though."

At that moment the door opened and Stefan came in at a hurried pace. "Katherine." He stopped short. "Caroline, Klaus what are you two doing here?"

"Klaus managed to turn Katherine into a vampire using hybrid blood." Caroline chimed in breaking the awkward silence. "Stefan how's Bonnie? Who managed to cross over?"

"Only Lexi." Stefan whispered. "Bonnie is dead, Caroline."

"Bonnie." Caroline whimpered.

Klaus grabbed her shoulder. "Come on, love let's give them some privacy. For what it worth I'm glad you two aren't dead."

"Klaus." Katherine said, knowing she would probably regret it. "Thanks."

"Yes." Stefan continued. "Thanks."

Klaus gave them a slight smirk and nod as he left the room leaving Katherine and Stefan alone. Stefan immediately kissed her, not knowing how much he wanted to until that moment. "Are you ok? Are the babies ok?"

"They are fine, they are both fine." Katherine said. She noticed Stefan's sad eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Damon." He choked out. "He didn't cross over, he decided to stay there, and he didn't want to leave Elena alone even though she was sucked into oblivion. He's gone for good."

A part of her was sad that Damon was gone, but she was glad that Stefan managed to get out alive, now her children wouldn't grow up fatherless. "I'm sorry."

* * *

The anticipation was killing her, she looked at the clock of her room, what was taking the nurses so long? It wasn't as if the hospital nursery was far from here. This was officially the best day of Katherine's life, she was a vampire again, her children were safe, and Stefan was alive. She couldn't have wished for anything better.

She tapped the heel of her high heeled boots (no way was she wearing the dreary hospital gown now that she was a vampire again) "What's taking them so long?" she demanded.

Stefan smiled. "Patience, Katherine. They had to make sure that they had all of their shots and that they are dressed warmly."

Katherine cocked an eyebrow. "And how long does it take to get them, I can't believe Klaus and Caroline saw them before me that must be a crime."

A few minutes' later two nurses came in holding a pink and blue bundle, their slightly bald heads barely peeking out from the blankets. "Here you go." The nurse said noticing Katherine's impatience. "Your daughter."

"And your son." The other nurse said as she placed the tiny baby in Stefan's arm as they both left. Stefan gulped as he held his son, he felt so small, so tiny in his arms. He couldn't believe that it was actually their son.

The baby squirmed a little, but easily fell back to sleep. Stefan could see that his eyes seemed to be the same shade of green as his. "Hi." He whispered, no really sure what to say.

Their daughter was more restless and was already squirming and getting fussy, a few curls were already starting to grow on top of her small head. "You're ok," she cooed. "No one will hurt you as long as I'm alive."

Stefan smiled.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just I never heard you coo for anything other than shoes and food." Katherine rolled her eyes.

"You know we never really thought about names." Katherine said as the baby wrapped her tiny hand around Katherine's finger. "Or middle names, though I never liked middle names."

"They don't have to have middle names." Stefan said. "How about you pick the boy's name and I'll pick the girl's?"

"Fine," Katherine said. "But it better not be something cheesy like Hope or Peace."

"As long you don't name him Klaus."

"I'm grateful to him, I'm not that desperate for his affection." Katherine said dryly as she looked at her son. "How about Alexander? He looks like an Alex."

"I like it." Stefan said. "And how about Susana, for our little girl?"

Katherine cocked her head. "Susana and Alexander, I like it." She stared at the sleeping babies. "We should probably get them in their cribs."

"I got it." Stefan said as he wheeled the movable cribs forward while juggling Alex in one arm.

"You're a natural." Katherine teased as she place Susana and Alexander in their respective cribs.

"Shut up." He said as he good naturedly bumped her hip before squeezing her hand. "Thank you."

Katherine looked surprise. "For what?"

"For not giving up on me."

"Well, then thank you." Katherine said as she kissed him.

"For what?" Stefan murmured.

"For giving me a second chance."

**The End**


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